"The Odyssey of Mind " -- is an international programme of all-round development
of child's creative personality, the core of which consist in solution of one
of five programmes set for the current year. The problem represents a technical
or humanitarian task, the solution of which demands untraditional methods
and approaches. The package of documents, including fomulation of tasks,
requirements to the solution, is sent from the international association
"The Odyssey of Mind" in the beginning of the school year.
During the year the children are seeking for the solution, which they
present consecutively on the selection tours of the contest -- in schools,
in the regions of the city, regional and world.

According to the international rales the task is chosen and solved by the
crew of children or teenagers under the guidance of a coach. The crew must
consist of 6-7 persons aged from 5to 22.
The grade of the quality of solution is conducted by the judges inside each
task in four age groups (5-10, 11-13, 14-18,19-22).

Irrespective of the chosen problem for solution, its demonstration must be
represented on the stage during the limited time (as a rule 8 minutes)
and must be staged as a finished show (literary, musically and atristically).

Besides this contest, the crew of children takes part in one more contest
which is called spontaneous contest. They offer to the children only one
problem, which must be solved during 1-2 minutes.
The problem may be "verbal", the solution of which is presented in the names
of the objects, qualities of materials, their usage, synonyms and antonyms,
etc, or "manual", where the children must fulfil the task with the help of
the hands (e.g. task - from the offered material to construct the longest
bridge or the highest tower, etc.)

The winner is the crew which have the maximal number of points, judging by
the results of two contests.